Six Lincoln-Way East High School students accused of racially harassing Homewood-Flossmoor fans at a Sept. 4 football game will withdraw from the school rather than be expelled, after the Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 board voted unanimously Thursday night to allow it, CBS News Chicago reported.
The board approved the outcome after returning from closed session. The students forfeit all student privileges. The board did not identify them or describe what each one did.
The vote came two weeks after video showed Lincoln-Way East students making monkey sounds and gestures toward the Homewood-Flossmoor crowd, which is majority Black. Early coverage described five students in the video. The board acted on six, and the reporting so far does not say who the sixth student is or how they were involved.
Why withdraw instead of expel matters
Illinois law treats the two differently in a way that follows a student out the door.
An expulsion under the state School Code is a formal action taken only after the parents are asked, by certified mail, to appear before the board or a hearing officer, and the board may expel "for a definite period of time not to exceed 2 calendar years." The same section lets any Illinois district adopt a policy that a student "suspended or expelled for any reason from any public or private school in this or any other state" must complete "the entire term of the suspension or expulsion" in an alternative program before being admitted.
A student who withdraws was never expelled, so a policy written around expulsions has nothing to act on. On the face of the statute, a withdrawn student can enroll in another district without first serving out a term that an expulsion might have imposed. The board did not say whether that was part of its reasoning.
Homewood-Flossmoor has not closed the door
Jennifer Norrell, superintendent of Homewood-Flossmoor District 233, told CBS News Chicago that after two reported incidents in a single weekend, the district's attorney has been in contact with state agencies about whether the next step will be a lawsuit.
The second incident is the one still unresolved. Three Homewood-Flossmoor cross-country runners said in a social media statement of alleged racial harassment by a Lincoln-Way East coach before a meet on Sept. 5. The district says it is cooperating with the Illinois High School Association, whose investigation into that claim is ongoing.
Before Thursday's vote, Lincoln-Way East students walked out of class in support of Homewood-Flossmoor students, the protest we covered as it was being organized in Lincoln-Way East students are walking out on their own school.
The two schools are almost the same size and very different in makeup. Lincoln-Way East enrolls about 2,700 students and is 69% white and 11% Black, according to federal enrollment data. Homewood-Flossmoor enrolls about 2,700 and is 74% Black.
Sources
CBS News Chicago: 6 Lincoln-Way East students allowed to withdraw from school after racist behavior
Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5/10-22.6: Suspension or expulsion of students
Enrollment and demographic figures from allk12's analysis of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data.
